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The NHTSA is the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints can be spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem. See the Back button — blue bar at the very top of the page — to explore more.

Get notified about new defects, investigations, recalls & lawsuits for the 2002 BMW 330:

330

81,000 miles

About three months ago, I had my 2002 BMW 330ci serviced at beverly hills BMW. During that $700+ service, they performed an inspection that was supposed to cover every major part of the vehicle, including the transmission. Yesterday, I had a complete transmission failure. When I asked BMW why they didn\'t notice anything wrong with the transmission during their $700+ inspection, I was told they can\'t predict when parts are going to fail. Which begs the question -- why did I pay $700+ for an inspection that can tell when something is about to go wrong" my car only has about 81,000 miles on it. I have serviced it on a regular basis and have always taken the best possible care of it. Damage resulting I'm now left with a car that needs a new transmission. The dealership will happily put one in for $5800. Or I can probably have someone rebuild it -- but it will still cost me big bucks. From my research - this is not an uncommon thing happening with the BMW 3 series. Why isn\'t BMW being held accountable" I did everything right. I always serviced my car at the dealership and used their parts.

330 8-cyl

Automatic transmission

100,955 miles

After 100,000+ miles of normal operation the 2002, BMW X5 4.4 began exhibiting unusual transmission operation. At random times, during start up, the transmission shifted to neutral, allowing the engine to rev very high, then engage in 1st, causing an abrupt lurch forward. Also, it will experience this disengagement sometimes when down shifting into passing gear, causing the engine to rev, and a loss of forward motion, and then an abrupt engagement, resulting in a major lurch forward. This was a major safety issue, as you cannot be certain the transmission will engage or disengage when pulling into traffic or performing passing maneuvers. After researching this problem there is considerable information about this on the internet as it is a common problem, and has been identified now for more than 3 years. It is related to zf supplied transmissions on BMW and Jaguar vehicles, and is attributed to the controlling software the BMW dealer suggested I replace the transmission at a cost of $7,600, and has not indicated a willingness to explore software solutions or admit any common problem existed. Reports on the internet indicated that sometimes a software update will cure this problem, and sometimes not, as it occurred in both old and new vehicles. As an expert in this field, I am still conducting my own analysis, but am coming to the conclusion that this is a BMW and zf problem that needs further investigation by NHTSA as a critical safety hazard in the affected vehicles.

330 6-cyl

Automatic transmission

63,500 miles

The salesman made me sign 3 different contract each one has different amounts I dont know if they made me sign for 3 different cars or what. The vehicle is not working properly. I have made several attempts to fix the problem but it's been in vein.I was pressured into signing the contractsand I dont what that car